X-Dreamers
Bible chapter guide
Acts 27
Paul sails for Rome as a prisoner. Against his advice the ship leaves Fair Havens and is caught by the north-easterly storm; for fourteen days they see neither sun nor stars. Paul encourages all on board, and the ship runs aground off Malta, where all two hundred and seventy-six reach land.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Paul and other prisoners are handed to a centurion named Julius and sail north from Caesarea, with the narrator and Aristarchus aboard; at Myra they change to a grain ship of Alexandria bound for Italy. Against the wind they crawl past Cnidus and along the south coast of Crete to Fair Havens, and since the Fast is already over Paul warns that going on will cost cargo and lives. The majority decide to make for Phoenix, a better harbour for the winter, but a stormy north-easter called Euroclydon (Euraquilo in many versions) catches them, and for many days they drift without sun or stars, throwing cargo and tackle overboard. Paul tells them an angel has promised that no one will be lost; on the fourteenth night the sailors sense land, and at daybreak the ship runs aground and breaks up, and all 276 people reach the shore.
What the lab shows, and where to look
Paul's Roads follows the voyage stop by stop on the route to Rome: Sidon, Myra, off Cnidus, Fair Havens, the storm off Cauda and the wreck on Malta. The leg cards carry the sailing detail: why the lee of Cyprus meant its north side, why the Fast mattered, and how a ship lying to in a gale drifts about 880 km from Cauda to Malta in about fourteen days. Fair Havens and Cauda are located with confidence; Phoenix is only plausible. Open the Malta stop for the wreck site.
- Sidon (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Myra (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Off Cnidus (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Fair Havens (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- The storm off Cauda (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Malta: the shipwreck (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
Questions people ask
Where was Paul shipwrecked?
On Malta: the name, the drift from Crete, the title 'chief man of the island' known from Maltese inscriptions and the onward voyage to Syracuse all fit, and the lab rates this strong; a minority has proposed Mljet in the Adriatic. Which bay is less certain. Tradition, and the 'creek with a shore' and 'place where two seas met' of 27:39–41, point to St Paul's Bay on the north coast, by the strait at St Paul's Islands. Other proposals are Salina Bay, Mellieħa Bay and St Thomas Bay on the south-east coast; the lab marks the bay as plausible and lists the others beside it.
How could a ship drift from Crete to Malta in fourteen days?
Acts counts fourteen nights (27:27). Sailors' calculations, starting with James Smith in 1848, show that a ship lying to in an east-north-east gale drifts at about 1.5 knots, which covers the roughly 880 km from Cauda to Malta in just about that time. The direction of the wind fits the line too.
What was 'the Fast', and why did it matter?
The Day of Atonement, which fell in late September or October. Roman writers such as Vegetius treat mid-September to mid-November as risky for sailing and the winter months as closed. So when Luke notes that the Fast was over (27:9), he is saying the season was nearly finished, which is why the debate was only about where to spend the winter.
See it in the Labs
- Paul's RoadsThe storm off Cauda (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsSidon (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsMyra (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsOff Cnidus (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsFair Havens (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsMalta: the shipwreck (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsSidon · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsMyra · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsCnidus · Paul's RoadsOpen
People in this chapter
Places
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
They sailed slowly for many days and came with difficulty opposite Cnidus.
Acts 27:7.
- Textually stated
They sailed in a ship of Adramyttium and put in at Sidon the next day.
Acts 27:2–3.
- Textually stated
Against the wind they sailed under the lee of Cyprus and across the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia to Myra.
Acts 27:4–5. With westerly winds the lee of Cyprus is its north side, and the coastal current helped them west.
- Textually stated
They ran south past Salmone and crept along the south coast of Crete to Fair Havens.
Acts 27:7–8: under the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone, coasting along it with difficulty.
- Textually stated
Making for Phoenix, the ship was caught by Euraquilo (KJV: Euroclydon) and driven to the lee of Cauda.
Acts 27:13–16. The ship could not face the wind and was carried before it.
- Strongly supported
Sidon is located with confidence.
The site is identified by ancient sources and remains on the ground; Pleiades 678393.